


In full comprehension

by rustling_pages



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Kings Rising, Laurent's POV, M/M, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 19:22:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13577322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rustling_pages/pseuds/rustling_pages
Summary: “For what it’s worth, I’m relieved that you knew,” he says, low enough that no one but Laurent can hear him, and with his eyes calmly averted.“That I didn’t let you between my legs knowing only your false pretense?”He doesn’t rise to it. Raises his eyes to Laurent’s instead, solemn and true.“That you weren’t punishing an innocent. That you wouldn’t do that.”





	In full comprehension

**Author's Note:**

> Set somewhere before Marlas. I know there's barely space to squeeze this in, but I felt like this was a conversation they needed to have.

He cannot pretend an improvised throne next to Damianos’ is a fate he bears without hardship. As ever, there is a physicality to him that demands notice, a quiet and natural air of command Laurent himself can only summon by invoking every bit of learned authority. He does invoke it. He will not be washed out by the Akielon King’s presence at his side.

Damianos. Prince-killer.

His most desperately, _privately_ hated enemy, his most considerate lover, his most necessary ally. A friend, maybe, in a different life. He could have chosen differently. He did not.

It is a delicate balance, to pay vigilance to every detail of the monarch next to him and ignore him entirely at the same time. One that Damianos himself still has difficulty with. Laurent would have thought the present of a gilded whip should have closed down any personal line of communication still left.

“For what it’s worth, I’m relieved that you knew,” he says, low enough that no one but Laurent can hear him, and with his eyes calmly averted.

“That I didn’t let you between my legs knowing only your false pretense?”

He doesn’t rise to it. Raises his eyes to Laurent’s instead, solemn and true.

“That you weren’t punishing an innocent. That you wouldn’t do that.”

“What,” it’s flat, bitten out almost against his wishes, “makes you presume such a thing?”

There is no hint of a smile, but the careful wall between them is, for the moment, lowered.

“The man I’ve gotten to know would not have been cruel to a slave. Had I been any other person, had you not known and despised me, had I not taken everything from you,” he pauses as if to let the words fade into something softer, “you would have been kind.”

Laurent turns a cold look at the King of Akielos, and finds himself scorning the effect the unguarded earnestness has on him.

“The man you have gotten to know was a careful construct erected to get what I wanted from you.”

Damianos shakes his head, barely perceptible to anyone watching them. He is more subdued than Laurent knows him to be, and he almost wants to congratulate himself on having taught this abrasive barbarian _subtlety_.

“I don’t think he was,” he breathes, lets his eyes linger on the cruel cut of Laurent’s mouth. “At least, not entirely. You make yourself hard, and you lash out. But out of the person who would have had me die under the whip and the one who’s won my loyalty and affection, only one is who you truly are. It saddens me that your hatred for me should be enough to make you choose the other.”

He refuses to be disarmed, even as it shakes him. Makes it another blade to wield.

“And yet, knowing which I choose, you keep handing me such… admissions of vulnerability. In full comprehension that that I will use every single one of them to your ruin.”

“I don’t think you will.”

It’s not a challenge. It’s not even misdirected conviction. It’s a simple, soft-spoken truth, and Laurent does not understand how such a thing can gut him. He feels his jaw clench, then forbids it. Feels warm gold clink against the arm of the throne.

He doesn’t spare Damianos another glance until he retires for the night.

**Author's Note:**

> Laurent's musing that it's hard for him to maintain a noticeable presence is based on Pacat's DVD Commentary observation that she found it impossible to keep him from vanishing when he wasn't talking. I'm not sure if it actually applies (as Damen always seems VERY aware of him whenever he's near), but I like the thought that he thinks so even as it makes me sad.


End file.
